09/02/2006 – The Mighty Boosh

Got to love the Boosh. It’s difficult to truly capture what the show was like, and it’s one of the few times when I really haven’t known what to expect from a live performance (but got The Go! Team to do in March, and that’s a similar deal…).It’s basically a pantomime on acid, with a very organic spontaneous feel to it. It’s fairly clear that it’s early in the run, because some of the stage direction is still a little shonky… props that are clearly supposed to be removed from stage between scenes still protruding from curtains, etc…

But the general feeling of chaos presented by the tv and radio series is still there, and when the work these guys are creating is so inventive, fresh and funny, you don’t mind that they sometimes re-use the bits that they like: In fact, there’s an element of stand-up or gig performance to them riffing off their big “hits”, like the Hitcher’s theme.

Went to see it with my mate Kieron, and we were perplexed and amused to see that a lot of parents had obviously watched the BBC2 dubbed repeats, and assuming this was a kid’s show brought their young kids… When the villain of the piece is talking about stump-fucking a dismembered head, you’re pretty certain that the target audience is over 8…

Yep… couple of weeks back. It was extremely enjoyable.
I’ve now watched through the DVD of season 2 (which I missed at broadcast). It’s really quite cool, and has it’s own charm which takes a little while to kick in after the shock of the Zooniverse vanishing.